Nanuet 911 Memorial
Work on the Sept. 11 memorial planned for Nanuet’s A. MacArthur Barr Middle School could be completed by early March, weather permitting.
“It’s going very well,” said William Devine, the superintendent of Long Island-based Triton Construction, the company managing the project. “A lot of work has been done so far.”
Devine said that since the project started late last month, the site had been cleared and levelled, and workers have installed a concrete foundation, a concrete floor pad and wiring.
Planning for the memorial began shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, but plans were put on hold to accommodate a districtwide construction project, which was completed earlier this year.
The memorial is to consist of a circular stone plaza with benches, trees, bushes, lighting and a five-segment monument in natural red, white and blue marble. The center stone will bear a carving of the names of nine victims of the attacks who had ties to the Nanuet school district.
Most recently, Devine said, workers began installing a winding stone-paved path that will connect the plaza with a nearby school parking lot.
“We’re very happy that they’re getting it done,” said Grace Lum, whose son, William Jr., 45, was a 1974 graduate of Nanuet High School. A senior claims specialist at Marsh & McLennan, William Lum Jr. died when the towers collapsed.
“We appreciate anything they do,” his mother said. “They didn’t forget.”
The New York City architectural firm Perkins Eastman PC designed the memorial. Both the firm and William Harris and Sons of Pearl River, which cleared the site, donated their services.
A fundraiser held in September by the civic group Friends and Neighbors of Nanuet generated more than $30,000 for costs not covered by service donations. Labor and materials for the project are estimated to be worth between $75,000 and $80,000.
Work under way at Nanuet Sept. 11 memorial